Biography

Translates to: "her word is above," meaning what she has to say is important.

Born as Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs, she was named by her Tóta (grandmother) and is a member of the Kanien'kehá:ka Mohawk Nation.

Biography

Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs is a film/television actress and filmmaker. She was born and raised in Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory, which has shaped her passion for Indigenous rights activism and interest in politically charged roles in film.

Her debut leading role as Aila in the award-winning feature film, Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013), resulted in Jacobs being nominated for Best Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role at the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards.

Jacobs also won Best Performance in a Canadian Film at the 2016 Whistler Film Fest and Best Actress at the 2017 American Indian Film Fest for her work in the feature film, The Sun at Midnight (2016) and has completed production on her third leading role in the feature film, The Road Behind (2018).

Jacobs was named as a one of Canada's Rising Breakout Stars by the Hollywood Reporter and was honoured by Telefilm Canada at the 2017 Birks Diamond Tribute, celebrating women in film. She is playing the supporting character of Sam Duchene in season three of the hit-series Cardinal (2017), series regular Lilith in the new Netflix Original, The Order (2019) and was recently announced to play Sam Blackcrow in the Amazon/Starz show, American Gods Season II (2019).

Furthermore, Jacobs has explored the other side of the camera, with her directorial debut of the short film STOLEN (2016), which won Best Aboriginal Film at the 2017 Yorkton Film Festival. Jacobs’ second short film Rae (2017), garnered Best Youth Work prize at ImagineNATIVE Film Festival and was an official selection of the 2018 Palm Springs Shortfest.